2024/05/31 by Pol Fernández, Rémy Amice, David Bruy +6 · 1 voice · 6 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Fern and Epiphyte Biology #Plant Diversity and Evolution #Plant and Fungal Species Descriptions
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.isci.2024.109889
openalex publication_date 2024/05/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Vascular plants are exceptional among eukaryotes due to their outstanding genome size diversity which ranges ∼2,400-fold, including the largest genome so far recorded in the angiosperm Paris japonica (148.89 Gbp/1C). Despite available data showing that giant genomes are restricted across the Tree of Life, the biological limits to genome size expansion remain to be established. Here, we report the discovery of an even larger eukaryotic genome in Tmesipteris oblanceolata , a New Caledonian fork fern. At 160.45 Gbp/1C, this record-breaking genome challenges current understanding and opens new avenues to explore the evolutionary dynamics of genomic gigantism.